“Why were Rome’s first emperors—the good, the bad, and the ugly—so vulnerable to conspiracies and assassination? . . . an expert analysis . . . compelling.” —Adrienne Mayor, author of The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates and Rome’s Deadliest Enemy Exploring the history of internal security under the first Roman dynasty, this groundbreaking book answers the enduring question: If there were 9,000 men guarding the emperor, how were three-quarters of Rome’s leaders assassinated? Rose Mary Sheldon traces the evolution of internal security mechanisms under the Julio-Claudians, evaluating the system that Augustus first developed to protect the imperial family and the stability of his dynasty. Yet in spite of the intensive precautions taken, there were multiple attempts on his life. Like all emperors, Augustus had a number of competing constituencies—the senate, the army, his extended family, the provincials, and the populace of Rome—but were they all equally threatening? Indeed, the biggest threat would come from those closest to the emperor—his family and the aristocracy. Even Roman imperial women were deeply involved in instigating regime change. By the fourth emperor, Caligula, the Praetorian Guards were already participating in assassinations, and the army too was becoming more politicized. Sheldon weighs the accuracy of ancient sources: Does the image of the emperor presented to us represent reality or what the people who killed him wanted us to think? Were Caligula and Nero really crazy, or did senatorial historians portray them that way to justify their murder? Was Claudius really the fool found drooling behind a curtain and made emperor, or was he in on the plot from the beginning? These and other fascinating questions are answered as Sheldon concludes that the repeated problem of “killing Caesar” reflected the empire’s larger dynamics and turmoil.

This collection of essays considers the challenging questions around the formation, establishment and continuation of the Julio-Claudian principate from the coming to power of Augustus. Augustus laid down the ground rules for a princeps, and the essays explore the subsequent transition of power, and how the succession and subsequent rule manifested itself, even though there was no formal mechanism for such a transfer. These essays fully utilize the extant literary, epigraphic, numismatic and visual record to evaluate Augustus’ “political legacy”. The representation, and retention, of power was a critical issue for the princeps and his subjects, and the contributors provide fresh political and literary analysis of aspects of the principates of Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero.